Jammu-Srinagar NH has partially reopened

Srinagar: Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the only road link between Kashmir and the rest of the country, was on Saturday restored partially after remaining closed for two days due to snowfall.

"One way traffic from Jammu to Srinagar has been restored on Saturday as the snow clearance operations were completed last evening," an official of the Police Control Room said.

He said vehicles from Jammu were allowed to ply towards Srinagar on priority as most of the trucks carrying essential items to the Valley were stranded on the 294-km road connecting the twin capital cities of the state.

The only road link between J&K and the rest of the country was restored.

A police official in Jammu said that over 2000 vehicles were stranded at various places on the highway and over 1300 vehicles have been cleared. 700 vehicles are in the process of being cleared, he said.

The Highway was closed on Thursday morning following moderate snowfall on either side of Jawahar Tunnel near Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir.

Most parts of the Valley witnessed temperatures close to zero degrees Celsius while the mercury plunged to as low as minus nine degrees Celsius in Pahalgam.

The temperature fell 8.6 degrees below freezing point in Gulmarg skiing resort also, which is three to four degrees below normal for this time of the year.

Srinagar city recorded a minimum temperature of 0.8 degrees Celsius, which has resulted in melting of the snow accumulated on Thursday. Kupwara town in north Kashmir recorded a minimum of 1.0 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, dense fog in Jammu has disrupted the movement of trains due to fog since last night. However, air operations were normal on Saturday.